Painful coach-skater splits in the past | Golden Skate

Painful coach-skater splits in the past

parma

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
While we are being at it, what were other painful splits in the past?


To start, obviously there is the Kwan-Carroll split...
 
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dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Christopher Bowman and Frank Carroll. Frank fired him, after getting into a kerfluffle with him on TV after his 1990 Worlds LP, feuding with him all week (as Hamilton mentions in this clip of Christopher's LP), rechoreographing his program on the fly after stepping out of his triple axel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-vDjjt06N4

Chris had skated a decent SP, and had chosen to skate to "Indian Love Call" as an homage to Frank Carroll who had skated to this music in his eligible years.(awful stereotypical Indian movements in this SP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf_NkIRbyJ0&p=81A9B1ECA0499FF8&playnext=1&index=36

Frank had reason-Christopher's bad training habits and drug use issues had to have driven Frank crazy.

Stupidly, after admiring Christopher's lovely extension on TV, Toller Cranston (here doing the color commentary for the Canadian coverage of the LP),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTPytY3CIms&p=81A9B1ECA0499FF8&index=38&playnext=2

Toller made the fatal error of deciding to coach Chris, since Frank had dropped him, which Toller later described (AFAIR) as like being in a car wreck every day.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I was thinking of Christopher and Frank the minute I saw the title for this thread. What a sad tale. Even in the heat of the moment in 2001, Frank had to know that whatever happened to Michelle in the Olympics, she would be all right as a skater and as a person. On the other hand, Chris must have had "going down in flames" written all over him from an early age.

We'll never know (and we shouldn't, probably) what light went on in Michelle's mind to make her leave Carroll and go coachless right before the most important competition of her life. But in all other respects (that we know of), she is and was a smart, steady person who seems to know how to keep her head above water. So there's only a certain amount of distress one can feel about her breakup with Carroll. (And she seems to have kept up or at least resumed cordial relations with him, the sure sign of a mature mentality.) Bowman, on the other hand, looked as though he was on the slippery road downward for years. If he was too much of a handful even for a take-chances Bohemian like Toller, that's saying something.

I guess another example of a bad breakup could be Yagudin and Mishin? I don't remember the exact story, but wasn't Yagudin a member of Mishin's stable originally, and didn't he skip over to Tarasova?
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I don't know many details of the Yags/Mishin split but I believe it was partially about the rivalry Yags had with Plushy.

Last season the Patrick Chan / Don Laws split started off a bit rocky but was quickly smoothed over.

I don't remember details from Johnny and Priscilla but that was a breakup that was talked about.

When Mao and Rafael split it was not exactly the smoothest breakup.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Frank Caroll "firing" Timothy Goebel also had something going on behind tha scenes that was never made public.
 

MK's Winter

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
I think of Johnny Weir and Priscilla Hill. Watching how that played out on his show,my heart broke for her.

I also think of Oksana and Galina.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I think of Johnny Weir and Priscilla Hill. Watching how that played out on his show,my heart broke for her.

I also think of Oksana and Galina.

Yeah, Oksana and Galina was especially rough because that was a "life" breakup, not just a skating breakup. She didn't exactly go out and train with someone else to maintain her high level. She began a downward spiral that lost her a career and friends who were basically her surrogate family. It wasn't just Galina she left, either; she left Petrenko (who happened to be Galina's son-in-law) and whoever else in that family was supporting her. Thank goodness she seems to be living a more stable life these days.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Frank Caroll "firing" Timothy Goebel also had something going on behind tha scenes that was never made public.

just a lot of ugly rumors. Though, after Angela Nikodinov's mother died in the car crash in Portland, Frank went and comforted Tim, so it wasn't a completely broken relationship.

Scott Hamilton and Carlo Fassi seemed to be a pretty heated break up on Scott's part (he felt slighted). It was the best thing that ever happened to his career, though, as he and Don Laws were magic.
 

MK's Winter

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Yeah, Oksana and Galina was especially rough because that was a "life" breakup, not just a skating breakup. She didn't exactly go out and train with someone else to maintain her high level. She began a downward spiral that lost her a career and friends who were basically her surrogate family. It wasn't just Galina she left, either; she left Petrenko (who happened to be Galina's son-in-law) and whoever else in that family was supporting her. Thank goodness she seems to be living a more stable life these days.

Her leaving Victor broke my heart. I always find myself watching the fox on ice video of their Rock around the clock number. Memories......
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Klimova&Ponomarenko leaving Dubova because they felt she preferred Usova&Zhulin wasn't the happiest split, either.

I always wondered how Gauthier felt being dumped by S&P the summer before the Olympics, but they all seemed to stay professional and circumspect in that situation.

How about the coaching pair break-up of Tarasova and Morozov? They had small amounts of mud-slinging in the press, and a team or two of theirs had some comments. (I'm thinking C&S of Israel primarily.)
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Frank Caroll "firing" Timothy Goebel also had something going on behind tha scenes that was never made public.

poor Frank. why is he in the middle of all of these. I don't think the Carroll/Kostner partnership went that well although news of it was almost non-existent.
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
I had forgotten Goebel Caroll split, but when was it? I dont remember! sad he didnt reach Torino Olympics though..
 

berrycute

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
What about Sasha and Robin? I remember seeing a Sasha fluff when Robin said she thought Sasha didn't give her a real chance. She seemed bitter
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
What about Sasha and Robin? I remember seeing a Sasha fluff when Robin said she thought Sasha didn't give her a real chance. She seemed bitter

That's not so bad. Didn't Tat let Sasha go because she said Sasha liked shopping too much :biggrin:

Come to think of it, Sasha should maybe get a medal of some sort for having so many changes without much real drama. That and the fact that she began and ended with Mr Nicks who remains like a member of her family. :)
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
That's not so bad. Didn't Tat let Sasha go because she said Sasha liked shopping too much :biggrin:

Come to think of it, Sasha should maybe get a medal of some sort for having so many changes without much real drama. That and the fact that she began and ended with Mr Nicks who remains like a member of her family. :)

I agree! I almost brought up the Robin thing but I don't think I've ever read anything more than vague rumors about what happened ... then I started thinking about it and it IS kinda remarkable that Sasha managed to go through so many changes so quickly that season without any realy media drama ... and that she managed to keep a solid relationship with Mr. Nicks. Seems like there was maturity on both sides ... and some perspective from a veteran like Mr. Nicks who has probably seen it all in figure skating.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
poor Frank. why is he in the middle of all of these. I don't think the Carroll/Kostner partnership went that well although news of it was almost non-existent.

Well, Frank strikes me as a scary coach. Not mean or anything but just very tough and no nonsense and I think you really have to have a lot of grit and backbone to be his student ... but if you do, then it's worth it because he's so brilliant.

And it seems like he's not about stroking egos either so I can imagine that a lot of skaters are not for him. I mean, can you imagine him coaching .... well, never mind but I'm sure a lot of skaters can come to everyone's mind. :)

Who knows what happened with Goebel, though. Goebel always struck me as mild-mannered.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I agree! I almost brought up the Robin thing but I don't think I've ever read anything more than vague rumors about what happened ... then I started thinking about it and it IS kinda remarkable that Sasha managed to go through so many changes so quickly that season without any realy media drama ... and that she managed to keep a solid relationship with Mr. Nicks. Seems like there was maturity on both sides ... and some perspective from a veteran like Mr. Nicks who has probably seen it all in figure skating.

I think Mr Nicks really loves Sasha and she feels the same way about him. They remain closer than most skater/coaches.
On a different thread it was mentioned which skaters have stuck with their coaches and shown loyalty.
I think the story of Plushy and Mishin is a really nice one. I respect how Plushy remained loyal to him and did not forget what Mishin did for him, especially when he was young and not famous.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
I think Mr Nicks really loves Sasha and she feels the same way about him. They remain closer than most skater/coaches.
On a different thread it was mentioned which skaters have stuck with their coaches and shown loyalty.
I think the story of Plushy and Mishin is a really nice one. I respect how Plushy remained loyal to him and did not forget what Mishin did for him, especially when he was young and not famous.

And Evan and Frank....
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
I think coach athlete relatioship is much tested in loss though...

Plush is another story, he has different relationship with Mishin. Mishin is kind of the same when he didnt accept joubert or lambiel after 07 waiting for Plush to decide if he will comeback. Well he took him from a little boy and fed him when he had not even food or house and was paying for his ticket when he wasnt yet in national team. Maybe it didnt maximize his potential staying with one couch though, but I think PLush was like Mao, especially in the years around 2001-02 where he had offers for Usa training, he wanted to stay in Russia.It is not like all skaters should follow it though.
I think another coach would have been fired for sure after Vancouver, I would think he might accuse Mishin because of wrong program /wrong contruction (i did) especially with such little loss margin in Olys, and i said if they dont split now they never will.

But this is not like the other cases we discuss nor yuna/orser. I dont think athletes should have a lifetime obligation with same coach and be loyal.It is professional relationship first of all and what is best for athlete.
 

MrBerkeley

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Frank has an exclusivity contract with one female and one male skater. Is that right? That probably means he invests all that much more energy in the skater. Can be a bit tougher since he's kind of known to be a disciplinarian.
 
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